Abstract
An 81-year-old woman felt something falling from the anus on emptying the bowels, and consulted a nearby physician, who diagnosed the illness as small bowel prolapse and referred her to our hospital for emergency treatment. An anal prolapse of dark red strangulated small bowel more than one meter in length was found on examination. An abdominal CT scan revealed an invagination of small bowel into the rectum to prolapse. Small bowel prolapse through perforated rectum was diagnosed; an emergency operation was performed. A perforation about 2 cm in diameter of the anterior wall of the rectum with herniation of small intestine into the rectum was found, and we performed Hartmann's operation. She was discharged from the hospital on the 35th postoperative day with neither sepsis nor intra-abdominal abscess. Small bowel prolapse through perforated rectum is so rare that we reported the case including a discussion of the literature.
